抄録
More than 30 years have passed since Toray Waterless Plate, an offset printing plate which creates the non-image area by ink-repelling silicone, instead of dampening water, has been commercialized. In the meantime, the major plate type has converted from analog to CTP. The waterless printing method itself is much easier to use compared to the past, due to the advance and accumulation of technology for related equipments and materials, such as dedicate ink for waterless printing. This improvement of usability has helped expand the field of use. Waterless printing is known to be an environmentally friendly printing method, which does not create waste liquid during the pre-press process, and does not require dampening water during printing. Due to this environmental merit, waterless printing has attracted the printers' attention in areas such as Europe where the awareness to environment is high, and many installations has been carried out from the early stage. In Japan, the visibility of waterless being an eco-friendly printing method has recently increased, based on the rising awareness of the society towards environmental issues. On behalf of this background, the usage of waterless is growing since many printers started to use this technology as a countermeasure against environmental issues.
